Your views reflect what I think would be the norm of the AI owner and Iâ€™m right there with you. If itâ€™s racing we are pursuing I noted in my HCANA post that â€œYes itâ€™s got a mirage drive, and people will want to pedal on the course. It does have a sail though, it is a Hobie, and my local dealer reports selling a lot of AIâ€™s.â€

That's a good idea Yakman....sharing out the burden. I know that I'm an awful long way away but let me know if I can help because I'd sure like to make it across whenever and wherever you guys decide to stage the event.

I met with the local Hobie fleet this evening to discuss entering their Raven Rookie race being held the 12'th at the Albermarle Ave. beach access. For more info their web site is
http://www.hobiefleet32.org/hb32.htm

Fred & Janet a couple from Pa. who are here in the area for a couple months also attended. We are planning to race with the small cats to establish a base line and feasibility/compatibility.

So we have 2 Islands and I got the name and phone# of a local who has 2 more. Anyone else out there want to race? The link above has the low down but feel free to email me as well at wiz@cox.net gwiz

I think it will tough getting people together in less then 2 weeks for the Hobie Event your talking about - what do you think?

This is just a short rookie race. I am inviting any in the area who might be lurking out there. According to my local dealer he has sold 30 in the Va. Bch. area but I seem to be the only one active on the forum.

If we draw a large enough Island crowd we could probably run our own heat. They also have several more events coming up that we could probably piggyback on if the interest is there.

As far as a fall get together I am all for it. Janet & Fred are camp hosts at First Landing State Park. They say it is a real nice campground and that we could probably still reserve several sites for a fall fling.

From there we have a lot of options for courses we could setup and accommodations are plentiful. Once school starts the hotels around here empty, for those who are not into roughing it. Also all the tourist trap crap will be 1/2 off at the Ocean Front for those significant others not into water sports.

Fall is the best time around here as the weather is usually one long Indian Summer until late Oct/mid Nov. and the water stays warm. As long as there isn't a hurricane we have them occasionally that time of year.

However the last weekend in Sept. is when I believe we hold the Neptune Fest which is pretty much the last beach blast of the season complete with parade, bands, sandcastle building competition and a sailing regatta.

If held here we might could entice a few Carolinians to come north for a spell as well but I would be up for a venue on the eastern shore.

IS there a place to rent an AI over there? If the timing is right, I would not mind flying over to join the event, I got a free round trip ticket from my Delta skymiles that I need to burn up by the end of this year;)

I just got off the phone with a local who owns 2 Islands. He is an old hand at racing all kinds of sail boats and was involved with the local Hobie fleet, I got his # from them.

He highly recommended that we join in with local Kayaking clubs as opposed to Hobie groups. This is my first kayak and to be truthful I haven't really used it as such but the points I have made about the Island and its drive show even I recognize it is not really a sail boat first just foremost, in my case.

He quickly recounted a plethora of events the local club regularly holds that the Island would fit nicely into and if we got enough of a turnout we could always do our own thing.

Again I need to talk with Joe who heads the local Kayak club, especially about the part where the guy told me it is mainly single women that show up for the kayaking events.
gwiz

If itâ€™s just a social outing Iâ€™m back to a weekend at someplace like assateague or some park with camping. Maybe we could all visit the forum member with the largest beach house.

If we want to go with an event I think we need to find a way to appeal to more owners. Clearly the AIâ€™s are selling and just as clearly the owners arenâ€™t in the Hobie fleets. The kayak club suggestion is a good one. Personally I have no knowledge there so Iâ€™ll ask around.

Rich

PS. Gwiz, Iâ€™m lucky to be happily married to a tall, attractive, and witty redhead but if it makes a difference in your calculus I could, for your benefit, inquire about turnout ratios in this area.

IS there a place to rent an AI over there? If the timing is right, I would not mind flying over to join the event, I got a free round trip ticket from my Delta skymiles that I need to burn up by the end of this year;)

it might be possible that I can borrow a demo boat for you and bring it on my van.

I am hoping for Hobie Support and they might be able to ask the local dealers to be there with there demo boats.